Share prices for HandHeld Entertainment (NASDAQ: ZVUE) rose 23 percent today after the company announced the release of its new “value-priced” MP3 video player, the ZVUE 260.According to the announcement, the ZVUE 260 is a “full-featured” personal media player with a built-in speaker and a “sleek and thin design that ships ready to play out of the box.” It comes with what the company calls a “starter” 1 GB memory card and memory for six hours of video or approximately 500 MP3 songs.

“At under $100, the ZVUE 260 gives digital media consumers access to a high-quality, yet value-priced, [personal media player] that is exciting to own,” HandHeld Entertainment’s CEO and President Jeff Oscodar said in the statement.

Unfortunately, Oscodar wasn’t the only one who had something to say about the ZVUE 260. Earlier this year, technology review Web site Engadget.com took a look at the ZVUE 260 and was remarkably disappointed with the product’s offerings.

“[HandHeld Entertainment’s] latest [personal media player] features about as little innovation as possible, yet still manages to seem mildly attractive if you’re interested in just the basics,” Engadget reviewer Darren Murph said in his review of the product on January 16.

“The ZVUE isn’t much of a burden, as the [secure-digital] unit doesn’t house any sort of internal hard drive to weigh it down,” Murph went on to say. “Possibly the best thing about the otherwise ho hum ZVUE 260 is the price, as it should fit in nearly anybody’s budget when it lands in mid-2007 for just $99.”

Investors apparently didn’t see the Engadget review, however, as prices rose from $1.90 on market open to $2.14 by 12:44 p.m. CDT.